Congress justification: ‘It was BJP who fixed the milestone for disruption’

Having made it clear that it will stall Parliament unless a BJP minister and two CMs facing allegations resign, the Congress justified that tactic by referring to the similar strategy the BJP used when in opposition. “We will cooperate with the government as long as they cooperate with us,” former Congress minister Kapil Sibal said. […]

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At Monday’s all-party meeting called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the party will not let the House function unless its demand for the resignations is met. (Source: PTI)

Having made it clear that it will stall Parliament unless a BJP minister and two CMs facing allegations resign, the Congress justified that tactic by referring to the similar strategy the BJP used when in opposition.

“We will cooperate with the government as long as they cooperate with us,” former Congress minister Kapil Sibal said. He said the party’s tactics was not “tit for tat” but recalled that a current minister when in opposition had said “obstruction is part of Parliament strategy”. “They (BJP) are the ones who fixed the milestone in the past,” he said.

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In the Rajya Sabha, Congress deputy leader Anand Sharma has given a notice for suspension of rules to discuss the Lalit Modi controversy. He wants the House to discuss “facilitation of issue of British travel documents for an Indian citizen wanted by law and enforcement agencies by an Union minister and filing of an affidavit by a senior leader, presently chief minister, before British authorities to support the application for British residence” of the same person.

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The bravado notwithstanding, a section of the Congress is apprehensive that its “stalling tactics” may not find much support and the party may get isolated in Parliament. “It is to be seen whether we will be able to sustain the momentum,” a senior leader sid.

“It is most unfortunate that the monsoon session is expected to be a complete washout. I must say that the responsibility for this grave aberration of parliamentary democracy rests squarely with the Prime Minister,” Congress leader Ashwani Kumar said. Kumar, incidentally, had to step down as law minister in 2013 amid pressure from the opposition for having vetted the draft of the CBI probe report on the coal allocation scam.

The Congress slammed the PM over his foreign policy saying he has made it a “light and sound show.” The party is planning to attack the government also for its Pakistan strategy. “This government is (Narendra) Modi-centric, not country-centric or citizen-centric. Nobody knows what the Pakistan policy of this government is… This I-love-you, I love-you-not…You-love-me, you-love-me-not relationship with Pakistan has no strategic thinking behind it,” Sibal said.

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He said the Prime Minister’s “postures and fulminations before the elections were mere jumlas. The bull has become a bear. Now he is not able to speak… There have been 800 ceasefire violations since he came to power, five in the last month alone… What happened to his 56-inch chest?”

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